A breakdown of Cisco Systems’ acquisition history as the company approaches No. 200

Sometime this year (very likely this year at least), computer networking powerhouse Cisco Systems will make its 200th acquisition. By our count on Mergr — Cisco has made 193 acquisitions thus far — including 4 in 2016.

That’s a lot of acquisitions and when you consider the company didn’t acquire its first until 7 years after its founding, Cisco has been a consistent M&A machine ever since, acquiring an average of 8 to 9 companies a year.

To put 200 into context, only several tech companies have more then 100. Google is right behind Cisco — followed by IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Oracle.

Cisco is somewhat unusual amongst acquirers in that it maintains a page listing every acquisition. Analyzing this list within Mergr, here are some stats and figures based on Cisco’s acquisition history thus far.

Total #

193 (as of April 20, 2016)

Total Spend (aggregate of disclosed deal values)

$66B

Most Active Year

2000 (20)

# of Countries w/ an Acquisition

14

Most Active Country

United States (164)

Most Active US States

California (99)

Massachusetts (15)

Texas (10)

Most Active (non-US) Countries

UK (7)

Israel (6)

Denmark (3)

Largest

Cerent Corp. ($6.9B in 1999)

Scientific-Atlanta LLC ($6.9B in 2005)

Largest (non-US)

NDS Group Ltd. ($5B in 2012, UK)

Tandberg ASA($3.3B in 2010, Norway)

Qeyton Systems AB ($800M in 2000, Sweden)

# Valued > $1B

11

Jasper was Cisco’s most recent $1B+ acquisition – acquired for $1.4B in early 2016.